The Butler weekly times., 1887-12-28
LIFE IN HONDURAS.
Strange Customs That Prevail In the VII.
lagos Of the CAribs.


Honduras TO Truxillo are mere trails
through the mountains The only
means Of transportation is by pack
mules Most Of the houses in Truxillo
are long. low-roofed. one-Story dwell
ings. built of stone and mortar. cool
and we'll adapted To the climate. Very
substantial. am told they are; indeed.
some of tnem have been standing
hundreds of years. They are any thing
but picturesque looking. being totally
unornamented on the outside. Ii
seems to mo that all the houses look
alike; in fact, an air of sameness per-
vades the place.
The surrounding scenery. on tho
other hand. compensates for the dull
ness and makes beautiful frame for .
plain picture.
Behind the town is a high range Of
mountains thickly wooded. with little
streamleis trickling down to the sea.
In the valleys on either side are Carib
villages-one. the village on The Rio
Crystallis, the other on the Rio Negro.
We visited the Carib town on the Rio
Crystallis and found it much larger
settlement than it appeared to be.
These so-called Caribs are. properly
speaking. not Caribs. but are the de-
scendants of an African tribe. Yet
they most decidedly object to being
classed as negroes. and boast that they
have never been slaves They are
quite like the ordinary negro, with
this exception. that they are scru-
pulouSly clean about their persons
AS is common among most peoples
of rude civilization. the women arc
the drudges. They are the hewers Of
wood and the drawers of water. and
it is not uncommon to see mother
padding a dory load of bananas, with
her infant squatting in the bottom Of
the boat.
When man among the Caribs
wishes to take unto himself wife he
hews himself out dory. and. with the
assistance of his friends and n jug of
rum. gathers together the wherewithal
to build his hut. which consists of few
poles. pile of clay to form the floor
and to fill in the wickerwork sides Of
his house, and some leaves of the
cohune palm TO thatch the roof with.
He then clears off a patch Of ground
and plants few ears of corn and some
vans and cassava root. This he calls
his plantation. He is then considered
an eligible swain. and is in a position
to choose partner from among tho
dusky maidens.
This plantation is entirely looked
after by the woman. She gathers tho
corn to make tortillas and digs tbs
cassava root to make her bread. /
visited Carib house and watched
the operation Of cassava bread
making. They first wash the
root, then CRATE it on board
studded with small sharp particles
of flint to form rough surface; then
strain it in order to extract tho surplus
juice. which is considered poisonous
Their mode Of straining is extremely
primitive Tho article used as =
strainer is u long snake-like arrange
ment, made from species OF palmetto
grass plated together. and looks ex-
actly like Il huge serpent It Is about
eight feet long and about three inches
in diameter, aud open at ono end
The strainer is suspended on hook
from the rafters. the grated cassaya u
poured in. then heavy weight Is At
tached to the lower end. which causes
the strainer to contract and so cx-
presses the juice. After it has been
thoroughly strained 1t is baked into
large. fiat cakes. which form the daily
bread of the Carib.
These appliances for making the cas-
sava bread. together with a couple
| of stools. i table. and the veritabie
| hammock. comprise the furnishings OF
| the house.
While walking through the town we
| happened in on The school Their Q
were about fifty Carib boys, all order
~ and clean-looking. taught by .
| young Spaniard The text books are
all Spanish. the history and geogra-
ply of Honduras being the principal
studies We hal Il delightful ride on
| horseba ck along the beach aud up TO
the Ro Crystallis. where we surprised
q number Of Carib women who were
washing clothes in the stream. There
they stood. knee deep in the water.
rinsiRg the clothes and putting them
10 dry on the stones While riding up
hill and for,iing The river VIC gave the
horses the rcins ani allowed them tc
choose their OWN path, and 20 The ut
ter CONSERVATION of the G arb washer.
women. The horses walked right over
the spot!ess clothes
| The beautiful crystal stream find:
its source away up in the mountains
and besides lending charm to th,
surrounding scenery. furnishes th1
town OF Iruxillo with drinking water
1t is Iroughl into The town By th,
Garth women il jugs. for which the,
charge = half real ius.
I. s..,.